Final answer:
Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) is a feature in database management systems that automatically encrypts data at rest, providing a high level of security. One of its core features is the ability to protect encryption keys used to encrypt and decrypt the data.
Step-by-step explanation:
Transparent Data Encryption (TDE):
Transparent Data Encryption (TDE) is a feature in database management systems that encrypts data at rest. It provides a high level of security by automatically encrypting the data as it is written to disk and decrypting it when it is read from disk.
TDE works by encrypting the entire database, including the data files, log files, and backup files. The encryption is transparent to the application, meaning that the application does not need to be modified to work with the encrypted data.
One of the core features of TDE is the ability to protect the encryption keys used to encrypt and decrypt the data. These keys can be stored in a secure external location, such as an HSM (Hardware Security Module), to prevent unauthorized access.